Album : Larks’ Tongues in Aspic – King Crimson

CB’s friend Tim, with a sly smile (Illegal) on his face said “You’re going to like these guys”. CB hadn’t even heard of this band. He lent me the record and I did what I thought I should do, I listened to it. I knew I was in for something different because of Tim’s previous recommendations.

Vibes, percussion and some kind of ringing noise start the album. This stays in a repetitive groove for a bit then starts to fade. A violin comes in with a cool riff, loved it right off the bat. It’s joined by some distorted guitar then drums roll in and boom! An explosion. What the hell is this? Heavy metal? They take it down again, build it back up and explode again. CB was digging it. Loved the heavy, hard edge. Combo violin, guitar, drums. The band kicks into a jam for the rest of the song. This wasn’t soft music. All the different changes in the first song appealed to CB. Lots going on for CB’s ear and head. Barrage of sounds.

The next cut ‘Book of Saturday’is a little more subdued with some smooth guitar licks with some equally smooth vocal. Sounded good then and sounds good today. ‘Exiles’ turns into another jam for the band with David Cross’s strings giving it a symphonic feel. The rest of the band adds to this feel. I was really digging John Wetton’s vocals. Robert Fripp’s guitar was a new style for CB but he was loving this music.

‘Easy Money’ opens side two. Hard rock style. Great guitar and “Devices” and “Allsorts”. Bass and drums keeping the beat. Jamie Muir’s percussion and allsorts filling in. This is one cool song and and it became a CB favorite. Fripp, Bruford and Wetton lay it down. Love this tune. Cross comes in at the end just to top it off. Man!!! These guys could play.

‘The Talking Drum’ and ‘Larks’ Part Two’finishes off the record with more of this great music. This was one good record by a very good band. CB has to mention them all. Bill Bruford on drums is fantastic. Jamie Muir doing his thing on percussion just added to the quality of the music. John Wetton’s bass and vocals fit perfectly (Love this guy’s voice). David Cross’ style of violin and viola play an integral part in this music. CB couldn’t get enough of his playing. Robert Fripp is something else. The sounds he gets and the style(s) he plays just blew CB away. It would be hard to say what style he liked best by Fripp. I guess it’s the one he’s playing at the time.

This music is not everyone’s bag but it was CB’s. It was a great listening experience. Some new music to add to the pile. He was becoming a lost cause in the mainstream world of music. He was discovering that there was so much good music out there. He just couldn’t help being drawn to this kind of music. He didn’t know anything about the band just what he heard on this LP. He wanted more of this music but for the time ‘Larks Tongue’ was going to get some heavy play. He was going to have to put up with his parents and neighbors screaming at him to “Turn that down!!!” (Hea

My friend Tim was a gold mine when it came to turning me onto great music. It was like it was “secret shit” and not many people knew about it. I wonder what he’s listening to today?

(CB chanced onto some footage of King Crimson doing some of ‘Larks Tongue’ on some midnight show back then. That was very cool.)

10 comments on “Album : Larks’ Tongues in Aspic – King Crimson”

Similar to ‘Red’. Minus Cross/Muir. Cross shows up on one cut for ‘Red’. Love his playing on ‘Larks’. I really liked this line up for KC. Bruford’s drumming is fantastic but like I said they all contribute to a great LP. A Babyhead fave for sure.

That sounds very cool. I just really dig this line up. Listened to UK a couple days ago, not too shabby either. Also, took ‘Birds of Fire’ for a walk yesterday. Lots of similarities with ‘Larks’. Love KC, really love this album. ‘Road to Red’, man what a chunk of great music that would be.

Impressive resume. He made a lot of great music. CB has been listening to John for a long time. Started with KC then went back and discovered when he played with Family and then kept an ear on his career. Might bust out ‘Easy Money ‘ today.

You can tell I’m just a bit behind in catching up on my listening. I liked but was never a big fan, of King Crimson. I figured I’d catch up with this one after your take. I did enjoy it quite a bit although I’m not much of a prog-rocker these days. The violin especially takes it to different places. I find these days I can take prog-rock -and even fusion – in smaller doses. Dig them both but couldn’t listen to a steady diet.

Since I’ve got into this thing we do I’m casting my memory back to the stuff that I listened to the most and kind of shaped my musical tastes (pretty much all over the map. (Wait until i get to Haggard and the boys, a little country for ya Doc). To me KC was a collection of all sorts of styles especially this membership. I was never a heavy metal guy but I loved when Fripp and the group let loose. I still dig it. Nick Cave does the same thing today with Grinderman. I always thought this version of KC leaned more towards a heavy jazz style at times. I don’t listen to it regular but it is still a favorite record. You know how much I like Bruford’s work. Same for Wetton, Crosses violin work is music to my ears but it was Robert that I followed for a long time. His playing goes from subtle to blow the doors off. Plus he is always exploring different musical ideas. It doesn’t all work for me but I respect that in anyone. Maybe in can get a job with the Beach Boy’s road band and really change it up. Cool you back to the vaults for this one.

I can still remember the first time I heard the “Court of the Crimson King” album. Dug it, didn’t love it. I was always half-in, half-out with prog-rock. I could never get a handle on Fripp. Probably took me a while because if you were a guitarist and weren’t playing something resembling blues, I’d say ‘see ya.’ But I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now. Hey, I’m a poet and I don’t know it.

I went back to all the early stuff, liked it but it was this lineup and few of the later ones that i dug. Side bar. I was a big Gabriel fan and on his first album ‘Waiting for the Big One’ surprised me with it’s bluesy vibe. Fripp is on it and so is Steve Hunter. These guys could play anything. There’s some great guitar work on the tune. Someone rips a good solo in here. Enjoy our conversations.